2019. 09. 29..
On 29 September 2019, the sound of the starting pistol marked the outset of the 34th Budapest Marathon footrace, where over 33,000 people showed up to beat one of the several distances.
Of course, Colas was not to miss out on the opportunity following several consecutive years of participation, and athletes from countries of the European region were hosted under the organisation of Melinda Vitális and Jean-Étienne Gay. Two relay teams arrived from Balgium, Switzerland, Denmark, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Croatia, and Slovenia, respectively, while Romania and Austria were represented by single teams. Needless to say, staying away was out of the question for Hungarian competitors: Nikolett Bajádi, Alexandra Hajdú, Ferenc Rajcsányi, Róbert Kiss, András Csányi, Gergő Kelemen, Márton Horváth, Szabolcs Magyar, István Lechner and Balázs Nyitrai took to the start line in four different squads.
Runners started from the Lágymányos Campus of the Eötvös Loránd University in Southern Buda to run along the quay near the Danube up to the Margaret Bridge, where they turned around and crossed the river on the Széchenyi Chain Bridge, coming back to the left bank on the Liberty Bridge. They passed the start/finish line, which only indicated the half point, as came another circle that led them up to Óbuda Island, and across Margaret Island on the way back.
From the 86-strong Colas delegation, the Czech teams clocked the best times both among men and women. The Colas Lazy Snails men’s team came in at 22nd place with a time of 3:19:50, whereas the women’s Colas Key Team finished 13th from 764 relay squads with a time of 3:49:14. From Hungarian teams, the “COLAS + FANT4COLAs” came out on top, clinching the 138th spot with a time of 3:57:40. Remarkably, one of the team members, Gergő Kelemen ran 10 kilometres in the individual race the previous day (Saturday), adding another 12 kilometres in the relay on Sunday. Congratulations are in order for the excellent achievement.
Thank you for coming, we hope you all had a great time. See you next year, if not sooner!
